I teach English and I write, mostly about horse racing, for the Blood-Horse, New York Breeder, the Saratogian, Hello Race Fans!, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, The Racing Biz, and the Brooklyn Heights Blog. My work has also appeared in the Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Times, the New York Daily News, and BelmontStakes.com. A former and erstwhile resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, I’ve lived in Brooklyn for more than a decade, and when I’m not teaching or writing, I’m watching the Rangers at the Garden, playing Scrabble, or rescuing cats.

Frankel: The Most Valuable Racehorse Ever?

Comparing athletes of any kind from different time periods is generally a dodgy business, and horses are no different from humans. In fact, comparing great race horses now to great race horses in the past might be the among the most futile of arguments, given the changes in the breeding of horses and the sport of racing itself over the last 100 years.

Such academic considerations, however, are not stopping people from calling Frankel the greatest racehorse of all time.

Frankel is a four-year-old, British-bred horse who last week at Royal Ascot in England extended his unbeaten record to 11. Nine of his wins have come in stakes races, seven of them in Group 1 races, the sport’s highest level.

His most recent victory, in the Queen Anne Stakes, was a tour de force; he won by 11 lengths, crushing his competition, leading Timeform, the respected British handicapping organization, to assign him an unprecedented rating of 147 and to describe Frankel’s performance as “equine magnificence.”

Frankel is owned by Juddmonte Farms, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khalid Abdullah; the horse is named for the late Bobby Frankel, who trained horses for Juddmonte until his death from leukemia in 2009. Frankel the human won five Eclipse Awards for leading trainer, including four consecutively from 2000-2003.

Frankel the colt was born in February of 2008, and in late 2009, Juddmonte decided to memorialize its late trainer by naming some of its most promising yearlings after him. Out of foal crop of nearly 200 horses, this colt, the son of European champion Galileo, was given the name Frankel.

“We could be looking at the best horse that ever lived,” said Nick Godfrey, international editor of Britain’s Racing Post, last week. “I’ve never see a horse do what he did.”

“Frankel has what racing people, especially Europeans, call brilliance,” said Marcus Hersh, a correspondent for the U.S.’s Daily Racing Form. “He can keep up with any pace, regardless of how fast, but he’s willing to wait for his jockey’s cue, and when he unleashes his burst, he displays breathtaking acceleration, which he’s able to sustain for close to three-eighths of a mile, a very long run for a horse with his kind of speed.”

While Frankel’s jaw-dropping performance led one BBC commentator to declare him “the most valuable racehorse ever,” that assessment may be more contentious than calling him the greatest.

“Dollar value and racing ability are two different things,” cautioned John Sparkman, bloodstock editor of Lexington, Kentucky-based Thoroughbred Times and a private bloodstock consultant. “Racing ability is absolute but value is dependent on the current market.

“Frankel could be legitimately rated the best racehorse in history–a matter still very much up for debate–and still not be the most valuable horse because of variations in market conditions over time.”

Sparkman said that highest-priced stallion syndication was for Fusaichi Pegasus at a reported $60 million in 2000 and noted that horses in general are not worth as much now as they were then. He also pointed out that the record stud fee—how much it costs to breed a mare to a stallion–was $500,000 for Northern Dancer in the mid-1980’s.

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After yesterday’s result at York Frankel is certainly improving his argument for Best Horse Ever consideration. Most valuable claims for any racehorse should only be entertained after the horse has had a chance to establish himself at stud.

Although “Undefeated” is a key criteria in deciding “Best Horse Ever” none of the “Undefeateds” are mentioned in this group. A small piece of Blame’s head may have robbed Zenyatta of her chance to be the “King” instead of “Queen” of all racing ever.

With all due respect a 2nd BCC win may not have been enough to dethrone Big Red. What separates him from the rest is THE RACE. We’ve seen horses like Frankel or Zenyatta or Curlin (to name another recent contender) build super impressive race records and Frankels Juddmonte and Z’s BCC were incredibly impressive efforts. However, until a horse of this caliber runs 10f – 12f (any surface) in a premier race, against premier competition, and smashes the track record doing it there really is no point to these types of debates.

So…Frankel…here is the math (the sport is all about time and distance at the end of the day)…

Big Red – 1973 Belmont – 10f in 144 seconds Easy Goer has the second fastest time in that race in history – 146 seconds

Track conditions aside I think it’s a pretty good instance and historical race to use. If we could pit Sec and EG against each other 10 lengths (2 seconds) would make Easy Goer look pretty foolish.

Another way to express this difference is to say that Sec ran the same distance and only took 98.6% of the time that EG took to cover the distance. 144/146 = 98.6%

If Frankel wins the Irish Champion Stakes in 1:59.20 or better he would achieve suitable comparison vis a vis Sadlers Wells stakes record (2:00.90 in 1984).

Course condition in Europe could be detrimental to him ever achieving this type of time but Danedream benefitted from one of the fastest Arc courses in history when she ran her 2:24.49 record last year. Fast course aside this was the most recent impressive overseas performance I had seen until yesterday.

Frankel would need around a 2:22.50 on a similar surface to achieve the type of comparison needed to dethrone Secretariat.

I think this all breaks down to about a 152 timeform rating. Putting together back to back 140′s might also merit consideration, but put up a 150+ in one of these top races and I think we have a new King.

Speaking of freaks when can we expect an article on Questing? Saturday’s jaunt was easily the best performance I have seen on dirt since Z’s 2 BCC’s. The Cotillion is tough to pass up given the money and potential competition, but Sheikh Mo has to be thinking BCC after watching her run away, run sideways, and still hide against THAT field. Whoa.

European horseplayers aren’t as hung up with times as we are here in the U.S. The big races are more often than not tactical cat-and-mouse affairs with the big guns waiting to pounce in the last 1/4 mile or so.

You also confused the Irish Champion Stakes, which was won on Sept 8 by the 2010 English and Irish Oaks heroine Snow Fairy, with the (Qipco) Champion Stakes which will be run at Ascot on British Champions Day Oct 20; exactly 2 weeks after the Arc. The Champion has been around since 1877 and up until the inaugural Champions Day (Britains answer to the Breeders’ Cup) last year, was run over a straight 1 1/4 miles at Newmarket. I suggest that you go to YouTube and watch the replay of last year’s running and get an idea of the type of horse it attracts.